ELECTIONS AND PARTY POLITICS

ELIUD BUNDI ONDARAC51/74074/2014

LECTURERSDR. LUDEKI CHWEYA

DR. ADAMS OLOO

CLASS PRESENTATION AS A REQUIREMENT OF MASTER OF ARTS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

Objectives• To Define and identify the electoral systems

• To define and determine the organization and social base of political parties.

• To demonstrate the discordance between the normative promise of the two processes as agents of political legitimization and stability and a source of acrimony, destabilization and violence.

• To establish how the constitution of Kenya 2010 offers remedy.

Background - Elections• An election is a formal decision making process by which a population

chooses an individual to hold public office.

Background - Elections• Elections are a democratic process where citizens aged 18 and over elect political

candidates to represent them and their interests locally, nationally or internationally.

• The process is determined by a voting system, where citizens vote for one candidate.

• The candidate with the majority of votes is elected.

• Anyone who is enrolled on the Electoral Register is able to vote. There are four different types of election:

Types of Elections• Direct elections

• Indirect elections

Direct Election• Describes a system of choosing political officeholders in which the

voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected.

• Examples of directly elected bodies are the European parliament (since 1979) and the United States Senate (since 1917).

Indirect Election• Is an election in which individual citizen’s vote for electors who will

select a candidate.

• Voters don't vote for the candidate directly, choosing instead to put the decision in the hands of others.

• Indirect elections are used in a number of ways in nations around the world, and, historically, indirect elections were extremely common.

The Nominating Process for President (by State)• naming people for office• 1. Self-announcement – person announces publicly that they will run

• 2. Caucus* – a group of people who think alike who come together to nominate someone (state-wide townhall meetings)

• 3. Convention – members of a party meet to select delegates to later choose a nominee

• 4. Primary* – election within a party for candidates (state-wide)

• Closed primary – only members of the party can vote

• Open primary – anyone can vote

5. Petition – voters sign petitions to select a candidate

Election System• An election system determines how individual votes are counted.

• The mechanisms by which the preferences of citizens are translated into seats in representative institutions.

• Given the same votes, different election systems will give different results.

• Election systems impact the party systems in place and the type of democracy in a country.

The Key variable of an electoral system is:• The electoral formula used i.e. whether the system is

majoritarian or proportional AND what mathematical formula is used to calculate the allocation of seats.

Electoral systems- A Typology

ELECTORAL SYSTEM

MAJORITARIAN

FPTP

Second Ballot

Supplementary Vote System

Alternative Vote

PROPORTIONAL

List System (Open & Closed)

Single Transferable

MIXED

MP

parallel

Electoral Systems - Majoritarian SystemsAlso Simple majority system and not necessarily to get over 50%

First Past the Post• The country is divided into constituencies with a single MP.• Each voter has one vote.• The candidate with the largest number of votes wins the seat.• The party with the most seats forms the government.

• Example - Used in UK and Canada general elections.

Kenyan general election, 1997Candidate Party Votes %

Daniel Arap Moi KANU 2,500,865 40.40

Mwai Kibaki DP 1,911,742 30.89

Raira Odinga NDP 667,886 10.79

Kijana Wamalwa Ford - Kenya 505,704 8.17

Charity Ngilu SDP 488,600 7.89

Which system was used to declare the winner?

Majoritarian Systems - The Alternative Vote System (AV)

(The winning candidate achieves more than 50% of the vote)

• Voters rank candidates in order of preference.

• Any candidate with 50%+ votes is elected.

• If no-one gets 50%, votes are redistributed

• This continues until someone wins.

• Example – Kenya’s 50 plus 1

Majority Systems cont…Supplementary Vote System (SVS)

• Voters have first and second choice.

• Candidates with 50%+ of votes are automatically elected.

• If no-one has 50%, all candidates are eliminated except for the top two.

• The votes of losing candidates are redistributed to second choices.

Majority Systems cont…The Second Ballot System

• If the candidate does not win more than 50% of the vote, a second ballot takes place a week or two later.

• Sometimes the candidates with the least votes are eliminated.

• This is used in France where candidates must gain 12.5%+ of the vote to stand in the second ballot.

Proportional Systems - List System (closed)• Voters only vote for a party, not a person.

• The country is one large constituency.

• The parties draw up a list of candidates and puts them in order.

• Seats are allocated to parties according to the proportion of votes won.

• These seats are then filled from the lists.

Proportional Systems (cont.) - The List system (open)

• The country is divided into large regional constituencies.

• Parties can stand as many candidates as there are seats.

• Voters choose a number of candidates.

• Seats are allocated according to the number of votes.

• The most popular candidates win the seats.

Proportional Systems cont…

The Single transferable vote system

• The country is divided into large regional constituencies.

• The parties stand candidates for all the seats.

• Voters put candidates in preference order.

• Those who reach the quota are elected.

• Votes of lowest candidates are transferred

Hybrid SystemsAdditional Member System (AMS)

• Voters vote for a constituency MP using First Past the Post.

• They also vote for a party.

• The Closed List System is used to allocate some seats to parties.

• Parties that do badly with FPTP are compensated in through the PR seats.

• Example - This is used in Scotland and Wales.

Why do we need an election?• Countries, practically it is not possible for people to sit together every day and take all

the decisions.

• Nor everyone has the time and knowledge to take decisions on all matters.

• So in most democracies people rule through their representatives.

• Election provides a mechanism by which people can choose their representatives at regular intervals and change them if they wish to do so.

• So election are essential in any representative democracy.

What is a Political Party?• A political party is a group of like-minded people who hold similar

views on political issues of the country.

• It is an organised group seeking to gain power through democratic means.

• In pursuit of this objective, political parties field their candidates in the election held for the public offices of the country

Basic Characteristics of a Party• Unity of purpose: A political party can only function when all its members

are united on basic issues and policy matters.

• Organised system of working: The political party should follow some rules and regulations and maintain a certain discipline.• Constitutional means: It should work through democratic means to attain its

objective.• National interest: The parties working for groups such as scheduled castes,

scheduled tribes, factory workers are considered as political parties because they work on non-sectarian issues.• Programme & policy: A political party should hv certain aims and objectives

Types of Party Systems1.Single-party party systems• Legal or constitutional bans on opposition parties

2. Two-party system• Periodic alternation in government and opposition, other minor parties

exist in the electorate and legislature

3. Moderate multi-party system• Several (4/5) parties, none approaching 50% of votes/seats, coalition

governments

4. Fragmented multiparty system• Multiple parties (6+) in the legislature

Organization Structure of Parties• Political parties can be categorized in terms of two types of party structure:

• cadre parties and

•mass parties.

cadre parties• A small fraction (between 2 and 5 percent) of the population

formally belong to one of the political parties in the sense of actually being members of one of the local clubs or organization.

• Most of the remainder of the population do, in fact, identify with one of the parties and call themselves (in the United States) Democrats or Republicans.

• The work and the financing of the party is left to a small elite group of political activists.

Mass Parties• Membership parties are more issue oriented than cadre

parties.

• An issue-oriented party system is consist of competing groups of people whose participation in politics derives from their desire to translate certain policy preferences into public policy.

• One of the motives for joining a mass-membership party is a desire for job preferment and other advantages that may accompany membership.

Political Parties• Political parties are the lifeblood of democratic systems of government

worldwide.

• Typically, the party in government is assumed to be the majority party and is assumed to represent the interests of the majority.

• Alternatively, majority interests could be represented by a coalition of parties.

• In contrast, the minority interests are represented by the party or parties outside government, mostly the opposition party.

Party Politics in Kenya• The republic of Kenya was described in early 1979 as "a one-party

state that is not without threats to its stability.

• Since independence, Kenya African National Union (KANU) and the de facto one-party system in place (which became a de jure one-party state in 1982) shaped the politics of the country.

• There has been some significant changes, especially since the early 1990s.

• The one-party system was a trend that could be seen all over the African continent during the 1960s, and by the early 1970s.

• There was a general move away from federal and quasi-federal systems of government to unitary systems.

• All of these trends point to centralization of power, personalized by the president and as a result, power was diverted from party organs to the bureaucratic machine instead.

• Kenya's one-party system had a weak ideological base and a weak party machinery.

Multi-party Politics• The Kenya People's Union (KPU) emerged in 1966, a radical party ready to challenge the

domination of KANU, until it was banned in October 1969.

• 1990s saw a wave of democratization sweeping across the African continent which took form of shapes.

• Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) was formed in May 1991

• Due to international pressure and a series of riots, Kenya became a multi – party state.

• However, there has been a significant growth of parties during the 1990s, parties that are still continuing in to date.

Functions of Political Parties• Representation of societal interests in legislatures;

• Political socialization and participation;

• Political education and communication;

• Recruitment of political leaders;

• Policy formulation; and

• Working towards national cohesion.

Organization Theory• In studying political parties, organization theory as a framework of

analysis is used.

• The reason is that the theory’s framework focuses on operations, motivations, as well as internal and external structures of institutions, which is precisely what this study.

• Organisation theory views large human organizations as ‘living systems’, with internal and external milieu as well as boundaries that define their closure.

• Although political parties are not identified as typical organizations, they are social institutions with features akin to these large organizations and thus merit analysis using this approach.

• Organizational theorists privilege the close interactions of organizations and their environments- physical, social, cultural, legal and political.

• As such, political parties must navigate the environment with their interests at the fore, adapt in accordance with survival and other needs such as reelection and gaining support among the electorate.

Socialization• Attitudes toward participation in political activity or respect for authority and rights of others

are acquired in early age and reinforced through agents of socialization that are dominant in adulthood.

• Agents of political socialization include: • Family; • Schools as they expose children to political literature and ideologies; • Religion; mass media; • Political parties; and • Peer influence.

• The political party is expected to socialize its members or the citizenry in all these facets of life.

Legitimization

Political Legitimization and Stability• Elections and Parties for a vehicle for legitimizing a new regime.

• Legitimization is the process of convincing the target group and the general public that the movement or party objectives are morally right.

• Leaders of a political party might use ideological, theological, philosophical, legal-technical, public opinion paths to establish the tenability of the party’s objectives.

Source of Political Acrimony• Violence has become a common feature of electioneering in many

states. This can be due to:

• Parties through their leaders

• Personalization power around the presidency and public believe that it is necessary for the ethnic group from which they come to win the presidency in order to ensure access to state resources and goods.

• The party in power would most likely bear the greatest responsibility for using state resources to benefit itself and eroding the legitimacy of the state as an impartial arbiter, and thus contributing to violence.

• Political parties failed to reform the Constitution, electoral laws, and key institutions that have oversight authority over the electoral process such as the Electoral Commission of Kenya.

• Party’s campaign platforms are overly divisive, lacked objectivity and rationality.

Remedies by the Constitution 2010• The Kenyan Constitution refers to political parties largely as it pertains to

their legislative and recruitment functions.

• To qualify for election to the National Assembly, the Constitution requires that a person be nominated by a political party in the manner prescribed by an Act of Parliament.

• Section 40 of the constitution stipulates that resignation from the sponsoring party would imply a loss of a Parliamentary seat, reiterating the importance of political parties in the country’s governance and law-making process.

•THANK YOU